BEER + FOOD PAIRING #13: MUSHROOM RISOTTO BALLS + HALLERTAU #3

Hallertau’s #3 Red Ale is an excellent food pairing beer. It’s not aggressively hoppy but it’s robust enough and has lots of roasty, malty flavours with a bit of sweetness. It goes excellently with grilled vegetables, or a wood-fired pizza. Hallertau Brewery is in Riverhead, Northwest of Auckland and is surrounded by lifestyle properties, vineyards and a lot of bike tracks and pine forest. If you were out riding your horse for a day, this is a beer you’d definitely like to finish the day with beside the fire.

I made the addition of a honey drizzle to this recipe, and found that the flavours of honey and mushroom go really well together…. especially with beer…. and with balls. Enjoy! Beer with balls.

Hallertau #3 Copper Tart and Mushroom Risotto Balls

Ingredients:

3 cups vege stock

2 Tbsp olive oil

1 onion, finely diced

1 clove garlic, crushed

200g Swiss brown mushrooms

1 1/2 cups arborio rice

1 tsp salt

ground black pepper

3/4 cup or 50g grated parmesan cheese

1/2 cup plain flour

3 eggs, beaten

1 cup wholemeal breadcrumbs

oil for shallow frying

2 Tbsp honey

Method:

Bring your stock to boil in a saucepan, then keep it to the side at a low simmer.

Sautée the onion and garlic with the olive oil, then stir in the chopped mushrooms and cook 3-4 mins until softened.

Add the rice and stir another 3-4 mins until evenly coated with oil. Add about 1/3 of the stock, stir gently and gently simmer until the stock is reduced, keep adding stock until all is absorbed (15-20 mins). The mixture should be al dente and slightly drier than standard risotto.

Add the parmesan, salt and pepper. Then leave to cool for 1 hour.

In 3 separate bowls, place your flour, eggs and breadcrumbs. Heat the frying oil in a pan over a medium heat. Then take tablespoons of the risotto mix, roll it into a ball with your hands and dip it into the flour, then the egg, then the breadcrumbs. Repeat the coating of egg and breadcrumbs. Then fry lightly on all sides.

Once browned, place the risotto balls on paper towels to drain. If you are not serving immediately, place them in the oven to keep warm or reheat at 150C.

When ready to serve, prepare a honey sauce with equal parts honey and water. Drizzle this over the top.